Butterfly Conservatory

March 19, 2014

Spring is just around the corner, but if you flutter over to the American Museum of Natural History you’ll find it’s already arrived there! The annual Butterfly Conservatory exhibition is open until June 22nd and consists of hundreds of winged creatures from three of the five butterfly families. Can you believe there are over 18,000 species of butterflies? Did you also know that once they’re developed, adult butterflies have an average life span of only a few weeks?

Learn all this and more! Truly an educational and wonder-filled experience, the conservatory boasts a variety of informative highlights like the anatomy of the butterfly, what we’re doing to conserve them around the world, as well as the architecture of the custom made structure the butterflies are housed in.

Peek through an acrylic wall to see what the butterflies are up to and then line up to enter the space.

Once you enter the specially made shell that’s placed inside an existing museum gallery you’ll discover a completely self-contained cocoon mimicking a rainforest with an array of tropical plants. Get face-to-wing close and read about who you’re looking at (and usually, holding on your hand). There’s even a case displaying a pupa emerging, so you can get a front seat to nature at work.

Explore the great outdoors inside this unique colorful exhibition, and keep your eyes open for the American Museum of Natural History’s newest exhibit on pterosaurs (the dinosaur equivalent of a bird), opening April 5th.

Central Park W and 79th St

New York, NY 10024

Are you yearning for a taste of spring? Cruise with Seastreak to the city, and get a feel for the great outdoors on our open top deck.